By Irishapi Pernebsati

What is a Beggar? 

Every day on my drive to school, we would pass a crossroads in Rockville, Maryland, Old Georgetown and Democracy, where a beggar stood on the median. It was usually the same veteran, though seasonal shifts brought others to that same corner. I watched as my caregivers rolled down the window and handed over loose change, a small ritual that, as a child, taught me there was a designated space for beggars to receive.